Castell Computers
--a GoldMine Blog--

FrontRange Solutions, the makers of GoldMine, announced, today, special pricing for upgrades from GoldMine Standard Edition or Corporate Edition — if the order is placed before July 31st, 2008:

Due popular demand by customers wanting to upgrade to GoldMine PE we are extending a special Special Summer offer:

To facilitate upgrades and to expand the benefits of GoldMine into marketing, customer service and other departments we have special pricing valid through July 31, 2008.

* GoldMine Standard Edition can upgrade and expand to GoldMine Premium Edition for $ 474.00
* GoldMine Corporate Edition can upgrade and expand to GoldMine Premium Edition for $ 374.00

To take advantage of this special pricing and/or to learn more about GoldMine Premium Edition, feel free to give Castell Computers’ world headquarters a call at (310)601-4738

GoldMine 7 has long suffered from a bad reputation as a bug-riddled version of GoldMine. With the 7.0.4 patch, last year, this reputation was somewhat redeemed. With the 7.5 patch, FrontRange aims to banish all the bug demons of the 7.x product and make good on all those Corporate Edition clients’ maintenance dollars.

The 7.5 patch has been a long time coming. It was originally released in January of ‘08 after much testing. Apparently, not enough testing was done as it was pulled from release within about a week with assurances that it would be back soon.

Fast-forward seven months later and soon has finally come. GoldMine 7.50.80618 has been released. It brings with it a lot of fixes and enhancements that have long been sought after by GoldMine users. Many of these enhancements are not even available in GoldMine 8 Premium Edition. This is not a surprise, however, as many late-in-life patches to prior versions of GoldMine brought lots of stability as well as some fledgling features that hadn’t quite made it into the newer versions of the product. One has only to look back at GoldMine 3.2, 5.7 and 6.7 to see similar patterns.

If you’re still on GoldMine 6 or GoldMine 7 Corporate Edition and are current on your maintenance with Frontrange, you can have GoldMine 7.5 for free. CD’s can be ordered from Frontrange with the update. If you are a new customer, you can’t have GoldMine 7.5 as new customers receive GoldMine 8 Premium Edition.

There are a lot of highlights in the release notes, but what really stands out, to me, are the many improvements to the e-mail capabilities. SSL, IMAP, TLS, NTLM, CRAM-MD5 — all of these acronyms represent things the old GoldMine e-mail client was incapable of. No more.

I wonder if these things will make it into 8.0.3 or if we’ll have wait for 8.1 to enjoy them? Regardless of when they make it, stability trumps an early release date any time. Kudos to the GoldMine team for sticking to it and getting us a good 7.5 release. Now, who wants to install it first?

Without more rambling from me, I bring you, the 7.5 release notes:

Support for Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 enables integration with the latest versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook. Also, the Word and Excel links now are optional components of the main GoldMine installation, rather than being installed separately.

Support for Windows Vista as an end-user operating system.

Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2).

Support for Windows Server 2003 R2, Service Pack 2 (SP2).

Secure SSL connections now are supported in the E-mail Center. To configure an SSL connection, go to Edit > Preferences > E-mail.

The IMAP protocol now is supported in the E-mail Center, providing more security and better interoperability with other e-mail clients. To configure an IMAP e-mail account, go to Edit > Preferences > E-mail.

The E-mail Center now supports integrated Windows authentication using NTLM. With this feature, e-mail access can be set up without entering or updating the password in GoldMine. To configure this option, go to Edit > Preferences > E-Mail.

E-mail Center performance can be configured with the following settings:

1. (New) When messages are deleted in the E-mail Center, they are not immediately deleted from the server until the connection is closed. This behavior provides the fastest performance but can cause deleted messages to reappear as duplicates in some scenarios. If this problem appears, the following .INI setting can be used:

[Internet]
PopImmediateDelete=1 (closes server connection after each message is deleted)

The default value for this setting is 0, which keeps the connection open after deleting a message.

2. (New) GoldMine automatically sends periodic messages (“no-ops”) to the e-mail server to keep the connection open for fast response time. By default these messages occur every 10 seconds. Some e-mail servers require more frequent messages to maintain the connection. To change the frequency of these messages, use the following .INI setting:

[Internet]
PopNoopTimer=nnnn (where nnnn is the number of seconds between messages)

3. GoldMine automatically disconnects from the e-mail server if it has no related activity for 10 minutes, by default. This is useful, for example, when using both the Online and Auto-retrieve options with an e-mail server that permits only one connection. To change the time delay before automatically disconnecting, use the following .INI setting:

[Internet]
PopIdle= nnnn (where nnnn is the number of minutes until disconnect)

Synchronization and database rehosting performance has been enhanced, especially when using the Firebird database.

The 2 GB size limit has been removed for synchronization transfer sets and installation files for one-button synchronization.

Concurrent GoldSync connections are queued to improve reliability. As users connect to a GoldSync server, they automatically are placed in a queue, up to the number of users established in the Number of Connections screen within GoldSync configuration. If simultaneous processing of concurrent connections is required instead of queuing, please contact your Solutions Partner or FrontRange Support Services for recommendations and instructions.

An updated ZIP code database for the United States is available though the QuickStart Wizard.

1. Branch To Event dropdown is empty during creation process if AP track contains Preemptive Event
2. Error when creating installation file for one-button synchronization using database with large MAILBOX table
3. Out of memory error while installing file for one-button synchronization
4. Automated process elapsed time trigger is ignored
5. All groups displayed when selecting (public) while adding to a contact group from search center
6. Sales script question numbers are corrupted when adding a number above 99
7. Message encoding failed when using e-mail template with attachments
8. TRIM expression evaluates as True if there is no data
9. Attachments are stored but not displayed on some e-mail messages
10. Line breaks are removed when spell checker corrects first word in paragraph
11. Influencer will appear twice following sync if added at server and at remote
12. Merge / Purge shows the wrong records when using prompt before merging
13. Long history notes truncated on Contact Profile (Detailed) and History & Pending Report
14. New Contact Alert and New Contact AP not working in Web Import
15. Error when inserting accented characters using XML API Writedetail call
16. Incorrect ratio shown in Leads Analysis total line
17. Forecast Quotas are wrong if more than 8 digits needed
18. Linking e-mail to additional contact creates duplicate e-mail address and overwrites previous e-mail address
19. Pending and e-mail are retrieved only if contact set open during sync
20. Crash when trying to print report with another minimized print window open
21. Crash when clicking the Complete button without selecting an activity
22. GoldSync service generates multiple messages in Windows Event Log
23. Expressions in the calendar do not show Contact1 data if there is an unlinked calendar item present
24. FILTERS field updates are added to TLog without field changes
25. REPORT32 field updates are added to TLog without field changes
26. Details tab not updated correctly after starting GoldSync processes
27. Special characters not displayed correctly in e-mails from Lotus Notes
28. Days are not displayed in quota analysis date range
29. Cancel operation does not work when a draft e-mail is open and user switches database
30. Deleting contact deletes Mailbox and linked CAL/HIST record at remote
31. E-mail message records retained after contact deletion do not sync
32. E-mail address and E-mail merge code data issue with secondary contacts when duplicate e-mail addresses are enabled
33. Send Request with to: option when scheduling an activity does not work
34. Lookup.ini erroneously populates date field with today’s date
35. Cannot add new detail on custom tab if detail name exceeds 20 characters
36. Contact Search Center does not return all records for non-master user belonging to a user group with a single quote in the name
37. Calendar Report does not print phone numbers for scheduled calls
38. Cannot scroll down through days in month control in day view
39. dBASE expressions cannot be used to clear a date field
40. Invalid SQL query causes loss of database connection
41. Russian characters aren’t displayed after upgrade from GM 6.5
42. Opportunities do not sync if GoldSync as service was configured using a contact set code other than the contact set code the remote is using
43. Non-Master user is unable to delete multi-user scheduled activities if they do not have delete rights
44. Contact Record Statistics shows inaccurate sales data
45. Filters containing “not equal to” criteria do match null values
46. Impossible to login to GM using Firebird and shortcut install
47. Notes field will not accept an import of greater than 50 characters
48. ‘Database Operation error’ occurs while generating Graphical Analysis report
49. Sort by Date on Details tab sorts by User Name
50. Forced logout UI is unclear
51. GoldMine GPFs when user without Schedule menu access tries to schedule from the Contact Search Centre
52. Crash during Global Replace on Notes using a filter
53. Notes are not synchronizing
54. Completed Calls SQL Query returns 0 results
55. Global replace on a user-defined date field generates incorrect values
56. E-mail merge performance degradation
57. Importing notes with more than 75 characters gets truncated
58. Cannot use phone number for duplicate checking in new record type
59. When multiple linked activities are edited, the Updated time is not changed
60. Contact -> Write -> Letter doesn’t create a history entry
61. E-mail merging/queuing speed degradation compared to 6.7
62. E-mail are not retrieved correctly unless Windows-1251 encoding was used
63. Group based on History Items against all Users returns no records
64. When running a crystal report from GoldMine the parameter values are ignored if run against the current contact record
65. Merging visible records drops notes from the non-surviving record
66. Field security not applied when users tab from field to field
67. Export wizard does not use the sort order defined in filter
68. Open Org Chart causes performance issues when searching contacts
69. Opportunity Title over 33 characters is truncated after saving
70. Create Duplicate Record does not copy Web Site
71. Clicking “Delegate to User(s)” causes characters to be deleted from the selected users list
72. Account roll-up does not work for Opportunities and Projects
73. Field mappings not saved in Outlook Sync profiles
74. Printer name of 53 characters generates error message about 59 character limit
75. Euro sign in e-mail not recognized
76. Cannot update time on activity scheduled for multiple users and multiple contacts
77. No Scheduling Conflict error when activity conflicts with recurring item
78. E-mails for secondary contact not populating the To: field when selected
79. Forced logout UI is unclear
80. AP Update Field action uses wrong field
81. Some applications can’t be started from Lookup.ini
82. To-Do marked as Private can be opened by other users
83. GoldSync process can be uninstalled before it has been stopped
84. SQL query truncated
85. Occasions are not showing up
86. Undocked users in License Manager are not sorted by Username
87. There is no way to restart GoldSync process
88. Completing an e-mail from the Complete Menu can cause the “Cal record is missing or corrupt” error message
89. No members are added when selecting All Users option in creating a group
90. GoldMine can be launched twice simultaneously
91. Opportunity Wizard allows Start Date to exceed Close Date
92. Run instruction breaks XML type WebImport
93. Crystal Reports use wrong data source
94. Retrieval of WebImport e-mail containing duplicate e-mail address hangs system
95. Log Changes in History setting is not respected when change is made to a NULL or empty field
96. Sync service ignores Send Filter when &RecordType macro is used
97. Report Sorts settings are ignored running Crystal report
98. Runtime error accessing report sort properties
99. Search by details in Build SQL Query does not work with long details
100. Unnecessary TLogs remain in database, although corresponding source record already was removed
101. Scheduled activity time is incorrect when alarms are on by default
102. Sales Scripts are corrupted after editing the question numbers
103. Document is merged to the current GoldMine contact instead of the one specified in literature request
104. AP set to 1000 days goes to incorrect date
105. Unlinked e-mail that is linked when replying causes endless loop
106. Activities notes are duplicated under pending tab
107. Digital signed e-mails not decoded
108. Queries on history built by Query builder, not returning correct data on unscheduled calls
109. Cannot activate a Group and a Filter at the same time
110. Performance issues during synchronization with Firebird demo db
111. Execute immediately ignored when added from another process
112. Opportunity record not updated with sale date change
113. Custom Field view unavailable until restart
114. Customizations missing with One Button Sync install
115. XML type WebImport record created with inserted note
116. CREATEON/CREATEAT fields unpopulated with XML WebImport
117. Screen Design mode retained between user sessions
118. Leads analysis does not show any completed sales information
119. Time and resource usage increase rehosting data to MSSQL
120. Opportunity Manager custom Field are limited to 60 characters via the UI
121. Impossible to save any word documents if template folder is indicated incorrectly in gm.ini
122. The SQL query builder truncates the value to 20 characters
123. The list of Reports of the Contact Report Category (in Print Report dialog box) is not visible
124. When e-mail contains a period preceded and followed by a space, message is truncated
125. Cannot rehost selected tables
126. Building a group based on scheduled activities does not add members
127. History tab does not show the most recent history, if the display limit is active
128. E-mail inaccessible after delete
129. Queued doc deletions do not sync
130. No warning for blank username in initial setup
131. Plain text signature file loses carriage returns when using HTML e-mail
132. InfoCenter export to RTF does not convert HTML tags
133. Contacts with calendar activities from: option does not sync any data to Outlook from GoldMine
134. Unable to open lead table error on Firebird database
135. API: DB_QuickSeek function does not work in XML API
136. API: DB_Search function does not work in XML API
137. API: DB_Range function does not work
138. Predial.ini strips area code from non-local number and breaks TAPI dial
139. Forecasted sale for decimal amounts are not reflected in Sales Analysis
140. Negative number corrupts formula to calculate Forecast (Potn) and Forecast Diff. amount and Forecast Diff. percentage
141. Application error occurs when entering data into required fields using F2 lookup
142. Industry template installer does not delete F2 Lookups
143. API: Seek function always returns ‘2′
144. API: ReadSchedulePrefs function does not work
145. API: WriteCalendarPrefs does not update some parameters
146. Subset of accessible records NOT returned with Search
147. GM+View template updates do not synchronize if user’s calendar not included in transfer set
148. One Button synchronization updates the currently open database
149. Printing filtered records failed
150. File NOT found error when selecting Maximizer Import
151. Project and Opportunity non-forecast activities are not completed in wrap up
152. Impossible to delete opportunity without deleting the related contact
153. Incorrect calculation of resulted stats of opportunity after closing all its forecasts
154. Extended sync times retrieving large transfer sets
155. Key Field Label Name assignments in QuickStart Wizard do not stick
156. Inactive alias displayed as blank lines
157. Changing an alias name is losing DB connection info
158. Word closes without prompt to save document
159. Update wording in Database Alias Manager for new functionality
160. Saving draft emails in Outlook prompts for a save location when the Word link is installed and Word is the default e-mail editor
161. Closed tab is empty by default in Activity list
162. Launching GM over network on Vista prompts security warning
163. SQL login user properties do not work
164. E-mails containing UTF-8 characters are not rendered correctly
165. Sort order on the pending tab is incorrect
166. Change of forecasted sale on the opportunity tab does not change corresponding sale on pending tab
167. If a user has no e-mail templates in the Document Management center, Mailbox contents will display
168. Import process leaves temporary tables
169. E-mail record attached to wrong contact record
170. E-mail record attached to wrong contact record
171. DBF import aborts if Date fields are included
172. Cannot export a SQL query from cal that has HTML notes
173. APP Identifiers in document management center work wrong
174. Groups not displayed correctly when adding contact to group in Members tab
175. DBF import skips remaining records if there is no data in company, contact or row
176. Sync ignores CONTHIST record change
177. Cannot click into a user-defined field that is under a user-defined expression field in the fields tab
178. HTML Signature file shows tags
179. GM is incompatible with MSXML 6.0
180. Reference unchanged with Contact Groups creation
181. Error navigating to merged contact
182. No Contact data with non-defined FILECODE
183. Cannot delete custom opportunity fields after editing them
184. Org charts only show titles for the first member that was added to the org chart
185. Adding Attachments to InfoCenter Documents doesn’t work properly
186. Customized field data not retrieved
187. Retrieved custom fields show ‘n/a’
188. Wrap-up information not displayed in Opportunity Manager
189. “Reference contains” calendar publishing option doesn’t work
190. “Skip read mail” option doesn’t work with Microsoft Exchange
191. No indication of which Groups and Filters are activated and which are released
192. GoldMine not recognized by Internet Explorer as default mail client
193. Carriage returns are omitted when pasting text into e-mail message
194. When an activity scheduled with a secondary contact is completed the name disappears from the completed activity on the calendar
195. GoldMine’s ZIP files can only create a 2GB max size transfer set file
196. Sync Contact associates Opportunity sale to added influencer
197. GM+Browser does not open web page when enter key is pressed
198. Lookup By preference not respected when creating e-mail
199. Add paste functionality for entering serial numbers
200. Copy/Move Records wizard does not transfer links created by e-mail attachments
201. Clicking “X” button in InfoCenter does not prompt to save modified text
202. Contact Search Center text box does not allow focus change from another window
203. dBase import of records truncates e-mail and web fields
204. Forced out idle time not obeyed
205. Carriage returns are omitted when pasting text into activity notes
206. Age of closed Opportunity is incorrect in Opportunity Mgr
207. Cal record remains on remote after deletion
208. Reports dialog doesn’t remember previous selection
209. GoldSync Max Retries setting is not honored
210. Scheduled resources are not included in transfer set when a send filter is used
211. Queued e-mails are sent even if the option is unchecked
212. Not all records returned in CSC based on MSSQLMaxBrowseRecs setting
213. Site can get processed by 2 or more different connections
214. Contact History Report with Notes with large history record only shows ‘Notes’ information on first page
215. Incorrect text on New Opportunity dialog
216. Click on title bar of a background e-mail window causes it to maximize
217. Incorrect Detail if the Lookup entry of the Detail custom tab is deleted
218. Include a Text File option in HTML e-mail template strips carriage returns
219. Request a Return Receipt does not stay checked on an E-mail template
220. Cursor focus stays in Subject line when replying to an e-mail
221. Industry templates change key fields incorrectly
222. Zoom should be an available local menu item in the Calendar Month view
223. Propose new time by GM recipient is corrupted
224. Importing a contact record disables existing alerts
225. Recurring Activities do not activate Conflict message
226. ZERO length field label and value is irretrievable
227. Cannot import exactly one contact from an ASCII file
228. Value in selected Update Field is not transferred to surviving record in merge/purge process
229. Contact2 data in AP Run An Application action, not processed

GoldMine Premium Edition sees it’s second patch, version 8.0.2 (aka 8.02.80208)

This is the second patch since the initial release of GoldMine Premium Edition (8.0). It brings with it a long list of fixes and improvements that make GoldMine Premium Edition a compelling choice for 6.x users facing the impending non-supported status of their product by Frontrange on April 30th.

Here’s the long list of line item fixes from the release notes included with this patch:

1. TLogs have invalid SyncStamp values
2. Recently Viewed list is not limited when using Firebird database
3. Contact Record Statistics shows inaccurate sales data
4. Delegate to User(s) causes characters to be deleted from the selected users list
5. Telemarketing Scripts corrupted while editing
6. Full Name with apostrophe incorrectly displayed in Notes tab
7. Special chars in Notes vanish when upgrading from GMCE to GMPE
8. MS SQL 2000 Spanish or German causes error in Case module
9. Upgrade from dbase to GMPE failed due to fewer licenses
10. lookup.ini erroneously populates date field
11. Grouping cases by Due Date does not function correctly
12. Drag and drop Attachments, no graphic shows until you add an attachment with attachment button
13. Non-Master uses cannot convert additional contact to primary ones in Case Management but can on the contact record under the contacts tab
14. Username.INI file expands on upgraded system with customized task bar
15. dBASE expressions in the calendar do not show the Contact1 data if there is an unlinked calendar item present
16. After upgrade from GMCE to GMPE, added toolbar icon does not remain
17. Tab content scrolling causes contact records scrolling
18. GoldMine automatically searches entire DB when a blank field is selected to launch the search centre
19. Time Clock not populated
20. Slow performance in refresh of Recently Viewed list in iGoldMine due to list length
21. Toolbar customizations are not maintained after Switch User
22. mouse wheel in notes (when reaching end of notes) it scrolls to another record
23. Error appears when scheduling activity with Greek regional settings
24. search center — columns that are part of the contact2 table, searching grinds to a halt
25. With iGoldMine, tabs do not disappear when closed and titles do not get removed from the window drop down
26. Schedule button on contact record intermittently works with large database
27. New Record Layout must be manually refreshed when creating a new record
28. Extended detail tab does not refresh when scrolling through records
29. UI for label customization is broken in Opportunity Management
30. Ability to change the number of recent items within user options
31. GM crashes if you try to complete non-existent activity
32. Changing menu format allows you access to disabled items
33. Users not in alphabetical order in Activities User dropdown
34. Text in the Notes tab overlap when HTML_CAL_NOTES=0 is set in the GM.ini
35. Case mask configuration prevents pending/history from being linked to case
36. Cannot schedule call when South African regional settings are used
37. Adding high tab order to user-defined field in upper part of contact record (above tabs) causes field to disappear
38. Unable to save email attachments in bulk
39. Cannot disable Zip code validation for additional contacts
40. GM hangs during recently viewed contact list refresh
41. Scrolling through the end of GM+View tab causes contact record to scroll
42. Adding a sort to an existing group populates member data incorrectly
43. Data entry corrupted after switching record types
44. Zoom shows incorrect record when filter is active
45. Incorrect column headings in History tab when contact name is shown
46. Category, Origin, and Offering cannot be added as columns for Service List
47. Note in Case is saved when switching to another Windows application
48. Complete Event dialog appears when using command button to Schedule Event
49. Context menus not accessible via Application Key
50. Case task does not appear on Pending tab of contact
51. To-Do date appears as 12/30/1899 in Pending tab
52. Case task does not appear in calendar
53. Non-Master users cannot search on E-Mail address
54. Case tasks are not displayed in Calendar
55. GoldMine - Filters and Groups - Calls scheduled to a group of users are displaying on the same line of time
56. Contact Search Center does not retain column widths
57. New Message -> Email TO selection from additional contacts is ignored -> always primary contact selected
58. Visual defects in highlighted calendar view tab
59. Using scheduled e-mail local menu adds duplicated menu items
60. “Empty Trash when closing E-mail Center” option ineffective
61. Assign focus to first text field
62. Missing option to Edit notes
63. Non-master user doesn’t have access to some Leads options
64. Toolbar changes are not retained when exiting via Switch User
65. Activities become inactive in alert window
66. Any GoldMine report pulling data from Notes Tab shows notes as html code
67. E-mail window needs attachment bar with icons

Feel free to contact Doug directly for more information about this patch or GoldMine Premium Edition, in general!

Do you find the simple act of looking up a contact to be frustratingly slow in GoldMine Premium Edition? Take heart, much better performance is just a settings tweak away!

When you double-click a field to lookup by contact name, for instance, GoldMine does a search of the database where contact begins with nothing immediately upon the search center opening. For whatever reason, this returns the entire database. Have you got more than a few thousand contacts in there? Better go grab another cup of coffee — unless you can beat GoldMine to the punch and start typing a name before it ‘aligns’ the lookup window with your search term.

How do you solve this? Wait for the forthcoming 8.0.2 patch from FrontRange and cross your fingers? No. You can correct this behavior with a little tuning of your search center’s lookup alignment delay. The setting can be found here: Tools|Options|Lookup|Lookup alignment delay.

I have mine set to 7 tenths of a second and I can usually get my hand from the mouse to the keyboard and type part of a name before that initial search hits — but I play a lot of video games. Unless you also have the reflexes of a ninja-sniper, you might want to try 9 or 10 — maybe higher!

Finding a good balance between minimizing the immediate blank search problem but still retaining that great drill-down responsiveness as you type the search term is somewhat of an art. The setting’s optimal number can be different for everyone.

Join me tomorrow afternoon (January 31st) at 1:30 PM PST as I sit in on a free one-hour online webinar that’ll show you how a GoldMine add-on tool called MasterMine can help to beat the age-old problem that plagues so many CRM systems today…dirty data.

If your company is struggling with GoldMine’s data hygiene, you can’t afford to miss this session!

Register here.

Hope to see you there!

The Recently Viewed Items list is a great new feature of GoldMine Premium. It’s a feature I have wanted for so long that I actually wrote something similar into my Search4GM tool years ago. GoldMine Premium Edition, however, takes the concept a step further. It tracks the last fifty records you visited in other areas as well. You can backtrack through contacts, campaigns, opportunities, service tickets, knowledgebase articles and more!

It’s a handy feature, but it’s been known to cause a bit of a performance hit when the Recently Viewed lists get long. There’s no way to tame this feature from within the GoldMine interface, but if you’ve got the MSSQL Management Studio (or the Express version of the same tool) you have all you need to get it done.

Of course, all due caution should be observed before undertaking such steps as you could possibly corrupt your database or confuse your cat with this stuff. Seriously, backup the database first (or ask whoever’s in charge of such things to do so)

1. Fire up Management Studio and expand down to the GoldMine database level.

2. Hit the ‘New Query’ button on the toolbar.

3. Paste the following query (with your upper-cased GoldMine username in there instead) into the window on the right.

update history set cnt=10 where userid='DOUG'

4. Hit the ‘Execute’ button.

That’s it! Head back to GoldMine and look up a contact not already on your recently viewed items list and go to it. Stay there for a few seconds and you should see your list decrease down to only ten contacts. The same behavior will occur as you visit other areas of GoldMine and refresh the Recently Viewed lists there.

Worth mentioning is that you could choose any number. I chose ten in my example to make it obvious. In practice, I prefer to keep my Recently Viewed lists at twenty-five items.

So the query for that would be:

update history set cnt=25 where userid='DOUG'

Heck, you might even want to make this change globally for all of your users at the same time. To do so, use this query:

update history set cnt=25

Castell Computers has moved to beautiful downtown Los Angeles!

Please make a note of the new address:

Castell Computers
714 W. Olympic Blvd, Suite 701
Los Angeles, CA 90015

While I was busy moving furniture, my web site apparently decided to act up… The blog and the ContactReview forums should all be fine now. If you’ve e-mailed and gotten a bounceback, please resend the mail.

A fine video tour of GoldMine Premium Edition 8.0 has been posted by a GoldMine consultant in the UK, Ian Wicks.

Ian packs a lot of useful information into the video that should prove valuable to those considering upgrading — and even those who already have!

Check it out here on Ian’s site. — scroll down to the bottom for the link to the video (WMV format.)

Of course, always remember that Castell Computers not only services Goldmine but sells it too! So, if you decide to BUY GoldMine Premium Edition 8.0, feel free to thank Ian for his fine video, but go ahead and place your order with me!

If you use Microsoft Office but haven’t got the FULL version of Adobe Acrobat, you may be missing out on a crucial ability that can help streamline your interaction with your customers, suppliers, family — anyone!

I’m talking about the ability to generate a PDF.

You’re probably familiar with the advantages of PDFs (smaller, less easily editable, etc.) but haven’t made much use of the format because you’re not sure how to make one yourself.

That’s where PDFCreator comes in. It’s a free, open source tool that installs as a printer driver on your machine.

When you’re ready to create a PDF, all you have to do is PRINT it. When the print dialog box pops up (be it in Word, GoldMine, Internet Explorer, Crystal Reports, whatever!) you simply choose to print to the ‘PDF Creator Printer’. You are then presented with a screen like this:

…allowing you to name the PDF file and select where to save it (along with a few other options.) It then quickly ‘prints’ to the file you specified and you have created a PDF!

You could tweak the advanced options, share the PDF Printer on the network and all manner of things, but that’s more than I’m talking about here. For more information about the PDFCreator tool, visit the PDFCreator web site!

Mailbox X, from my buddy Dexter over at EndUser Software, is better than ever and now supports GoldMine Premium Edition!

What is Mailbox X, you ask? Here’s the short description from EndUser Software:

Mailbox X is a simple tool that allows users to automate the recognition/deletion of invalid e-mail addresses based on returned e-mails from a previous mass e-mail merge. There is no easier way to manage those invalid e-mail records / contact records when it comes to identifying which e-mail is invalid and where they are located in your database. Mailbox X automates everything !

Essentially, it helps you deal with bouncebacks, unsubscribes, bad addresses, etc. etc. It supports all versions of GoldMine from GoldMine 5 on up (SQL or dBase.) It’s a really handy tool that not a lot of people seem to know about. Here are a couple of screen shots to illustrate the capabilities of the tool:

More information can be found here on the EndUser Software Mailbox X page.

It’s worth noting that EndUser Software has lots of other great GoldMine tools as well! Check out the freebies supplied in the GMX Tools package, for instance! Good stuff.

By the way, if you buy anything there, be sure to let them know I sent you! I might just get a few bucks in commission — and it won’t cost you anything extra!